When Congress returns from a week-long recess, a group of House Republican lawmakers will begin poring through their rule book, looking for changes that will appease a faction of disgruntled conservatives who say they have been sidelined by the leadership.
The overhaul comes while the House Republican conference weighs who they should elect as the next speaker to replace retiring John Boehner, R-Ohio. The election has given the conservative faction sudden leverage because their votes are needed to ensure a Republican gets the gavel in a House floor vote.
Conservatives hope they can trade their voting power for changes that will empower their faction and shift the way the House operates, which they say often involves throwing the rules out the window in order to hastily pass legislation with little review or opportunity for amendments.
“It’s not just about leadership elections, it’s about everything,” Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s about how a bill gets to the floor.”
House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, said he’ll begin the rules review this week, working alongside House Republican Conference Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., and Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, the rules panel vice chairman.
“Let’s go back and look at why we do what we do, then we’ll have a better chance of understanding why we need to change it,” Sessions told the Examiner. “It’s not just a simple matter of giving someone an amendment, it’s also about getting back to a regular order process of hearings, markups, scheduling and who can control that outcome.”
The House speaker traditionally wields more power than any other House lawmaker. The speaker designates committee chairs and dictates which bills will come to the floor for a vote, and when. The speaker also decides whether to allow lawmakers to try to amend legislation on the floor.
Conservatives say the top-down approach prevents them from weighing in on important legislation. Instead, they are expected to vote for any bill the speaker moves to the floor.
Conservatives have at times rebelled at this approach and have voted to block measures they don’t like, forcing the GOP to cut deals with Democrats to win the votes needed to pass the legislation.
Boehner and his leadership team have in turn punished recalcitrant conservatives by stripping them of their committee assignments and leadership positions and depriving them of re-election fundraising help.
Angry conservatives are now unwilling to back any candidate for speaker from the GOP’s current leadership network, including committee chairs, unless there is a pledge to end the top-down approach.
“As long as their is a real commitment, that will be enough for most members,” Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a Freedom Caucus member, told the Examiner.
Conservatives have provided the GOP leadership team with a preliminary list of House rules changes. The list includes ending retribution for lawmakers who vote against legislation and a requirement that individual committees elect panel chairs.
Conservatives also want an end to fast-tracking bills straight to the floor without consideration in committee where the measure can be amended.
“We have good rules, but we just don’t ever follow them,” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., a Freedom Caucus member, told the Examiner.
Lawmakers agree the changes will not be immediate and could take as long as the remainder of the current Congress to formulate.
Republicans held a preliminary meeting in early October to throw out ideas and get an idea where the current rules are followed and where they have been ignored.
“It’s just a good discussion at this point,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas. “Members are throwing out their ideas and understanding how the process works.”
This article appears in the Oct. 19 edition of the Washington Examiner magazine.
